Former Foreign Minister Bob Carr calls for immigration to be cut by half to stop ‘breakneck’ population growth

Sadie Grace Jackson, with mum April, was born in Geelong last year and was one of the newborns that helped push to Australia’s population to 24 million. Picture: Leanne KellySource:News Corp Australia

AUSTRALIA should consider cutting immigration by as much as half in order to put the handbrake on the country’s “breakneck” population growth and high house prices, says former foreign minister Bob Carr.

The 24 million mark comes 32 months after Australia’s population topped 23 million and means we’re growing at a rate faster than ever before and faster than experts had predicted. By some estimates Australia could be home to 40 million people by 2050.

And it’s worrying Mr Carr.

“We’ve got a third-world style population growth rate and I think the Australian people need to be alerted to this,” the former NSW Premier told reporters in Sydney on Tuesday.

“There’s a case for pegging immigration back by easily a third, perhaps 50 per cent.

“We are going for breakneck population growth and it’s all about supply and demand.”

Former NSW Premier and foreign minister Bob Carr speaks to the media in Sydney on Tuesday. Picture: AAP Image/Dan HimbrechtsSource:AAP

‘IT’S NEVER ENOUGH’

Mr Carr said increased numbers of residents would put huge demand on infrastructure and housing stock, pushing up prices.

“No matter how much governments spend on infrastructure, at this level of population growth, it’s always never enough,” he said.

“All of Australia’s population growth will be settled in a narrow band along eastern Australia. “There comes a point, given we’ve only got a narrow fertile coastal strip, when at 40 million, 50 million, 70 million by the end of the century, we’ve got to start thinking again.”

The growth could not continue indefinitely, he said.

“I’d rather see us tapering off before we’re locked into irreversible degradation of what we’ve got on this continent.”

However, Mr Carr said capping immigration did not mean stopping asylum seekers coming to Australia and he was “perfectly comfortable” with accepting refugees.

Australia reached 23 million people on April 23, 2013. That means we’ve gained our latest million in a space of two years, nine months and two days. Never before has Australia added a million people within three years.

“From 1954 when the population hit nine million, until 2003 when the population hit 20 million, each additional million was added in a time span of around four and a half years,” Sydney-based social researcher Mark McCrindle said this week.

“From 20 to 23 million, the time span had decreased to add each million every three and a half years.”

Mr McCrindle said previous forecasters predicted Australia would reach today’s population by 2033. So we’re 17 years ahead of schedule.

“While Australia’s population growth is significant in national terms, our new milestone of 24 million is small compared to the US population of 323 million,” Mr McCrindle said.

“In a global context, Australia’s share of the world’s population is just 0.32 per cent, less than one third of one per cent.”

In terms of the number of people for a country’s physical size, Australia is one of the most sparsely populated in the world with barely more than three people per square kilometre. Only Namibia, Mongolia and Greenland have less people per kilometre.